A Creature with Two Souls
by Malocanth Prefect
Summary: What creature lurks beneath Gaara's Armor of Sand, skin, and the Shukaku? A brutal and impassive existentialist...or something else, something more?
1. SESSION 01

SESSION 01 \\ THE FOREST OF DEATH

The boy known as Gaara of the Sand flicked an imperceptible glance at his surroundings. Mighty red woods and pines loomed overhead, imposing artificial night on the forest' under story. The gourd of sand on his back sagged hard, and shot pinpricks of pain through his spinal column.

The other boy on his right, Kankuro, was fully clad in black and hefted a humanoid figure on his back. It was wrapped in cerements and vaguely reminiscent of a mummified corpse–The Crow, he called this puppet.

The blonde young woman next to him had a disciplined gait. Sultry, collected, the impertinent gaze frozen in her features made her look like a calculating murderer. The three rookie ninja–genin, as they were colloquially known–looked like a band of assassins for hire. A closer inspection told a different story.

Not one of them was beyond fifteen.

The objective was simple: survive The Forest of Death, collect the heaven, earth, and (blank) scrolls, and reach the edifice in the heart of the wilderness. Gaara had heard the myths about the forest: ambitious genin never returning, tales of giant serpents, and man-eating beasts.

He wasn't afraid, and wondered if that made him less sentient. Self-preservation and fear of death only existed when one valued their own life. What he was interested in, though, was the competition.

Genin from the Konohagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure, to the Sunagakure ninja villages had come to partake in the Chuunin exam. Rookie ninja to survive would earn a higher rank.

These three genin from Sunagakure–Village Hidden in the Sand–had their own reasons. The Forest of Death lay in the outskirts of The Village Hidden in the Leaves–Konoha. There were three particular genin they were interested in: Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Shikamaru Nara.

Their...targets, hailed from Konoha. Each one was a valuable asset for what Sunagakure's leader–the Kazekage–had in mind. Of course, Gaara knew there was more to it than a coup-de-tat.

Himself, his older brother and sister, were little more than pawns in the Kazegake's real intentions. And he wanted to find out, that's why he bared the insult of being tested among genin.

His pearlescent-blue eyes darted left. His older sister, Temari, pretended she didn't feel his cold gaze cut through her. Gaara wondered what she wanted. She kept everything privy, he didn't trust her. Kankuro sauntered on his right, absent minded. A fool, maybe. To call him harmless, though, was an understatement. He'd keep an eye on those two, betrayal was common practice among shinobi, and The Sand Siblings weren't a tight-knit family. The sinking feeling in his gut grew colder.

He felt the gourd of sand pulsate, nervous...and he was ready for a fight. 


	2. SESSION 02

SESSION 02 \\ ...LIVING INSIDE THE SHELL

Kokuto Chouji lay silent and absolutely still in the bush, stalking them. His team's lead gave him a brief nod, and the three rain genin peeled down their balaclavas. Kokuto stalked the three targets, kunai handed. The young woman crossed his sight, each step flaunting an aura of confidence. She was oblivious to the situation. Next to her, the young man dressed in black sauntered, equally ignorant. The red-haired sand-nin in the middle shot him a scowl which could have melted battle plate. His features were blank and deathly pale, with a crimson tattoo blazed on the corner of his right eye.

Cold blue eyes peered into his soul, and for a moment, he couldn't move. Flash-frozen blood chilled his veins, lethargy poisoned his limbs. Suddenly...he had the sinking feeling they were better off passing this opportunity. The team's lead nudged Kokuto's side, and the consoling gesture spoke volumes. They had to win...for the sake of Amekagure—Village Hidden in the Rain.

Kokuto whipped an arm out, snapped his wrist—and the kunai lanced at the three sand ninja. The wedge-shaped dagger pierced air, arced...and whizzed past target. His heart pounded with such force he felt it in his gut—and the three rain genin lunged into the tree cover.

Temari's hands flashed overhead, snapped the giant fan down–and a twisting vortex of air spiraled at the bush. The whirlwind peeled vegetation as it went, grinded through the bush, and stormed into a clan of redwoods, stripping bark and leaving crushed boulders and splintered twigs strewn in its super-sonic wake.

"I'd point that eye somewhere else," Temari sneered, her voice cold with malice. "I might rip it from its socket."

The voice resonated in Kokuto's head. There wasn't a thought in his mind–only raw instinct, and the three rain genin slotted from their cover. Shinji, the team's lead crossed the corner of Kokuto's eye, and snapped his wrist. Three kunai traced fine strings of silver at the girl.

Temari brought the fan to bear—and whipped it in an opalescent blur. The concentrated jet detonated forth, engulfed the kunai in mid-flight, and gunned them back to the enemy. The rain genin bolstered his fingers, prayed a jutsu–and vaporized from the column of air.

The wind cut a twisting, sinuous swath of wreckage into the tree-line. Shinji snapped into view straight behind the red-haired genin. One small problem, though: the sand-nin stood absolutely still, backside facing his opponent. Shinji's ringed kunai twirled, and a streak of shimmering silver flew—

A red-hot hammer shot into his gut, lung, and forehead. The world twirled a full three seconds before he pancaked with a dull thud and tumbled across the wind-scarred terra. A crimson lace freely flowed from the corner of his cracked lip.

Shinji coughed sand, and his marred skull rolled to the left, then right. His two team-mates lay beneath the red-haired genin, blood pooled beneath their twisted figures. He tumbled upright with the grace of a wounded animal—

And felt cold sand snake up his legs. He tried to move, he had to, but arms and legs only gave a sluggish response. It spiraled upward, engulfing his figure as it went. Team mates, protecting his village–everything suddenly became meaningless, not if he didn't survive. "Here!" Shinji tossed the Heaven Scroll at the red-haired nin, "just let me go!"

Soil beneath Gaara's feet welled in a concentric ring–and shot up in a cascade of finely hewn sand. The scroll impacted the shield of sand and harmlessly clattered right next to the kunai on the ground. His fingers moved, the sinister melody of shattering bone sung in his ears. The wide-eyed, manic look twisted on Gaara's features contorted. His heart throbbed, and his head was full of warm blood. The left hand rose, digits quivering with sinful ecstasy. His fist closed shut—and the sand imploded.

Concrete around the rain ninja's constricted form upheaved, cracked, and fell straight down. Uprooted trees balanced in the vacuum of air—then splintered as walls of atmosphere clapped the void shut. Specks of ivory-white bone flew in glittering, ugly arcs. Scarlet tears gushed from the crushed rain genin like a graceful tide of red, slicked with grass, and coalesced into a viscid, dirty-brown gel. The implosion's force was so strong that it superheated blood to the point of evaporation in a faint, scarlet evanescence. Ninja Art: Sand Coffin Technique.

Gaara's fingers curled, beckoning his weapon into his gourd. Finely hewn sand detached with the twisted figure, surged into a fine stream, and poured into his gourd. The tell-tale blood-lust poisoned his mind, stripped him of free-will...and the feral instinct of the demon within took over. He tore his gaze from the crimson spectacle and turned to Kankuro. He wanted more. 


	3. SESSION 03

SESSION 03 // SYNONYM Sasuke Uchiha's location, separated from Team 7, The Forest of Death

Sasuke Uchiha's foot bucked against the tree, flexed--and tore his mass from the tree trunk. He spiraled in the air, spun, and slammed two meters distant on all fours. His head snapped at the bushes, blood-red filling his eyes. His Sharingan had awakened.

Had she lured him here? Why? To replace him? Sasuke didn't know...but none of that mattered, not if he didn't survive. He ringed a kunai and twirled the dagger. His heart pumped with vigor--not because he was scared, only the powerless are afraid. He was excited. Finally, a challenge to beat. Finally, another leap to surpass his brother.

"Tch," he scowled. "Your putrid inconfidence is rather admirable. Turn back on your word and arrange for help?"

"Oh no, don't take it like that," Shouten gestured at the two beings. Their deliberate gait made them look like automatons, and they etched ghostly contours as sunlight streamed through the leaves, waning soft shadows on the clearing.

"This is Christy, my older sister." The guest stepped forth. Her cloak of darkness faded. The woman's angular features were hard, struck up in cold malice. She looked dangerous. "And this is my old sensei." The man at her side was a tottering old geezer. His forehead protector sagged hard against his neck, and mirrored sunlight into his pasty face.

Sasuke scoffed, "and they wouldn't have any qualms about jumping in if you're losing. It's only natural, I guess cowardice goes in hand with what you are: a pseudo-kunoichi. It's not in my agenda to spill the blood of a girl, quit wasting my time."

"Hmph," Shouten brushed her forehead in disbelief. "Is it typical Uchiha doctrine...or were you simply born a mysoginistic chauvinist with a borderline superiority-complex? I'll tell you what, we will fight one-on-one, no weapons, and I will beat you with Taijutsu alone"  
Super-cooled blood chilled Sasuke's veins. His calves had already strung up, ready to hurl his mass into the challenge. Shouten was no push-over, even for kunoichi, she was a challenge. His blood-red eyes snapped into the surroundings, registering everything on the battle-field as he dropped the kunai. "Let's see what you can do, girl."

Shouten sneered, "you want to see what I can do?" Fists clenched, crushing the kunai in hand. Pearlescent-blue jets of chakra circled her nimble frame while a dry gust streamed across the clearing, twisted, and curled her trembling frame. Her fist moved--and the chakra detonated into a scarlet-inferno. Her fluttering hand shrugged off specks of the crushed kunai, "YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT I CAN DO!?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, his lips pressed to a thin line of concentration. Red chakra? Only Rock Lee could open the Chakra gates, and only the Kyubi in Naruto had chakra so strong. He wouldn't fold, though. He was too proud, too arrogant to forfeit. He was an avenger.

Her foot bucked, Shouten burred--and the air detonated. Concrete rippled, cracked, and fell straight down. Concrete rippled, cracked, and fell straight down, up-chucking trees as it went. Boulders tailed up as the sonic boom grinded through the clearing, leaving a wake of earth, metal, and rock strewn in her supersonic wake.

A light smile tugged the corner of Sasuke's lip. She moved too slow in the lens of his Sharingan, like she was underwater. He channeled the chakra into his right hand, Strings of lightning leapt between the fingers of his right hand, tangled at the median, and spawned a burning sphere of chakra. The air cracked and angrily snapped as the energy turned into a jagged sphere of superheated plasma. Ninja Art: Chidori.

Sasuke braced, hand poised at her rib cage. Either he hits, or she does. One move would finish this. The opalescent blur that was Shouten pinged into the air and descended on the lone avenger. The clearing exploded. Plates of sediment sprouted from the impact and showered the destroyed landscape. Cracks spidered from the crater, mapping across the locale as the storm of dust and debris whipped into astorm...lightning sparked within.

TO BE CONTINUED 


End file.
